Taiwan’s Telecommunications Regulator Further Regulates the Use of Telecommunications Numbers
As part of the Taiwanese government’s effort to prevent telecommunications fraud pursuant to recently introduced legislation, the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (or 詐欺犯罪危害防制條例 in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the “Anti-fraud Act”), Taiwan’s telecommunications regulator, the National Communications Commission (“NCC”), has launched various schemes aimed at further regulating the use of telecom numbers to prevent and minimize their use in fraud.
As the first step, the NCC has established a new numbers management scheme through the new Regulations Governing the Use of the Subscriber Numbers by Telecommunications Enterprises (or 電信事業用戶號碼使用管理辦法 in Chinese; hereinafter referred to as “Numbers Regulations”). Under these regulations, all services providers that secure numbers provided by local fixed-line or mobile network operators and re-allocate them to their own customers for use are required to register with NCC as number resale/wholesale services providers (in the form of a Telecommunications Services Provider Registration Certificate, or 電信事業登記證明 in Chinese). Services providers subject to such registration requirement include VoIP services providers, IoT services providers and voice simple resale services providers. These requirements have been criticized as conflicting with Taiwan’s primary telecommunications legislation, the Telecommunications Management Act (“TMA”). The TMA became effective in 2020 with the goal of deregulating telecommunications services. It abandoned the franchise and license requirements set forth by Taiwan’s former telecommunications legislation, and replaced them with a registration scheme. Registration is optional except for services providers that apply for allocation of telecommunications numbers or/and frequencies from regulators, or services providers whose networks will be interconnected with other services providers. IoT services providers and simple resale services providers are not subject to registration under the TMA. Registered telecommunications services providers are subject to various obligations such as, universal services, non-discrimination, confidentiality and record maintenance, and reporting/filing requirements pursuant to the TMA. Given that the anti-telecommunications fraud has become a top priority policy of the Taiwanese government, the NCC has stood firmly by the registration requirements for the above mentioned services providers.
The NCC is also considering further requirements that numbers provided by local fixed or mobile network operators to VoIP and IoT services providers must comply with Taiwan’s PSTN Numbering Plan, as set forth by Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (“MoDA”) and the respective operator’s MoDA-approved numbers allocation application/plan. This would mean that the numbers used for VoIP services will be limited to those numbers with the “070” prefix, and numbers used for IoT services will be limited to those numbers with the “040” prefix. The local fixed network operators will be required to retract the local phone numbers (which have a prefix that is not “070”), previously provided to VoIP services providers within 6 months from the effective date of the proposed amendments. Although this proposal has generated significant backlash from VoIP services providers, it is expected that the NCC’s position will remain unchanged and this proposal will soon become effective, given concerns over numerous telecommunications and internet fraud incidents involving VoIP and IoT services this year.
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English translations of telecommunications and media laws and regulations are available from YANGMING PARTNERS’ Legal Support Department.
This publication is intended to highlight selected legal developments and not to be comprehensive nor to provide legal advice. If you have any questions on issues reported here or if you have any issues you would like to see covered in future editions, please contact the editors:
Robert C. Lee, at +886-2-8725-6601, rclee@yangminglaw.com
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